Your boss sends a two-word email and your mind jumps straight to "I'm getting fired." A friend doesn't text back and you decide they must be upset with you. One mistake at work and suddenly you're "terrible at everything." If any of that sounds familiar, you've met cognitive distortions. Everyone has them. The good news is that once you can spot these thinking traps, you can start to loosen their grip, often with one simple question.
This post is general information, not a diagnosis or medical advice. Only a qualified professional can assess what you're experiencing.
Cognitive distortions, the short answer
Cognitive distortions are habitual, biased ways of reading a situation. They're mental shortcuts that make sense in the moment but often leave out important facts. They tend to make things look worse, more certain or more personal than they really are.
Everyone slips into these thinking traps sometimes, especially when tired, stressed or low. They feel true while you're in them, which is what makes them so convincing.
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) explains that in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), thoughts, feelings and behaviours are closely connected. Changing how you read a situation can change how you feel and what you do next.
Below are the most common types of cognitive distortions, grouped in pairs, with an everyday example and one question you can ask to test each. You don't need to memorize them. Even recognizing one or two can make a difference.
Catastrophizing and fortune telling
Catastrophizing means jumping to the worst possible outcome. A headache becomes a serious illness. A tense meeting becomes the end of your career.
Example: Your partner says, "We need to talk tonight." By lunchtime, you're convinced they're leaving you.
Fortune telling means predicting the future negatively, as if you know for sure what will happen.
Example: "There's no point applying for that job. I definitely won't get it."
The question to ask: "What is the most likely outcome?"
Not the worst case, not the best case, but the most likely. Often, the most likely outcome is far more ordinary and manageable than the one your mind first jumped to. You might also ask, "If the worst did happen, how would I cope?" Many people find they're more resilient than catastrophizing suggests.
All or nothing thinking and overgeneralizing
All or nothing thinking sees things in extremes, with no middle ground. You're either a success or a failure, perfect or useless.
Example: You eat one cookie on a healthy-eating day and think, "I've ruined it. I might as well give up."
Overgeneralizing takes one event and turns it into a rule about everything.
Example: One awkward conversation at a party becomes "I'm always awkward. People never like me."
Watch for words like "always," "never," "everyone" and "nothing." They're often a clue.
The question to ask: "Is there a middle ground?"
Most of life happens in shades of grey. One cookie doesn't undo a whole day of choices. One awkward moment doesn't define who you are. Looking for the middle ground helps you see the bigger, more accurate picture. If perfectionism fuels your all or nothing thinking, our post on how to overcome perfectionism may help.
Mind reading and personalizing
Mind reading means assuming you know what someone else is thinking, usually something negative about you.
Example: A coworker looks at you during a meeting and you think, "She thinks my idea is stupid."
Personalizing means blaming yourself for things that aren't fully in your control, or assuming others' moods are about you.
Example: Your friend seems quiet at dinner, and you assume you must have done something wrong.
The question to ask: "What else could explain this?"
Your coworker might have been lost in thought, worried about her own presentation or simply looking around the room. Your friend might be tired, stressed about work or dealing with something you don't know about. Listing two or three other explanations can quickly take the sting out of mind reading and personalizing.
Should statements, labelling and discounting the positive
Should statements are rigid rules about how you or others must behave. "I should always be productive." "I shouldn't feel anxious."
Labelling turns a single action into a fixed identity. Instead of "I made a mistake," you think, "I'm an idiot."
Discounting the positive brushes off good things as if they don't count. "They only said that to be nice." "Anyone could have done it."
Example: You finish a big project, get praised and think, "I should have finished it sooner. I'm so disorganized. They're just being polite."
The question to ask: "Would I say this to a friend?"
Most of us are far harsher with ourselves than we'd ever be with someone we care about. Imagining what you'd say to a friend in the same situation can help you find a kinder, more balanced way to talk to yourself.
Emotional reasoning and mental filtering
Emotional reasoning means treating feelings as facts. "I feel like a failure, so I must be one." "I feel anxious, so something bad must be about to happen."
Mental filtering means focusing only on the negatives and filtering out the positives.
Example: You get ten kind comments on a presentation and one piece of criticism. All you can think about afterward is the criticism.
The question to ask: "What am I leaving out?"
Feelings are real and important, but they aren't always accurate guides to what's happening. Asking what you're leaving out invites the rest of the evidence back in, the compliments, the things that went well, the facts that don't fit the story your feelings are telling.
Thinking traps are common, but when they show up all the time, they can start to shape how you feel day to day.
When thinking traps feed anxiety or low mood
Research suggests cognitive distortions are linked with anxiety and depression. In a study of people with panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder, Ozdemir and colleagues found higher levels of cognitive distortions than in people without these conditions. In adults with depression, Carneiro and colleagues found that distorted thoughts were linked with depressive symptoms over time.
That doesn't mean thinking traps cause anxiety or depression on their own. But they can keep worry and low mood going, and working on them can help.
That's one of the main goals of CBT. In CBT, a therapist helps you notice your own thinking patterns, test them against the evidence and practise more balanced ways of seeing situations. Over time, this can ease anxiety and lift mood. Some people try CBT tools on their own first, and our post on whether you can do CBT on yourself explores what works and when support helps.
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Your thoughts aren't always facts. With practice and support, you can learn to catch thinking traps and choose a kinder, clearer way of seeing things.
Last reviewed: October 2026
Sources
Ozdemir I, Kuru E, et al. Investigation of cognitive distortions in panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and social anxiety disorder. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2023
Carneiro AM, Pereira DA, et al. Distorted thoughts as a mediator of depressive symptoms in patients with major depressive disorder: a longitudinal study. Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, 2023
Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH)